Things That I’ve Learnt While Book Blogging|Tips & Screaming.

Welcome to 1300 words of wisdom — exactly.

We all know that I’m great, it’s just fact.

Recently, I was nominated for the Blogger Recognition Award, by Live Pulchritudinously (thankyouthankyouthankyou) which basically entails a story about your blog/how it all started, and then some advice FOR NEW BLOGGERS.

Now, because I’m #rebel, I won’t be doing that. I’ll be doing my own thing, because WHY NOT? And, because I’m such an awesome blogger, I’m totally qualified to do this. And since I’ve been blogging for 2 years now…? Why not???

I’ve actually done a post like this before, LAST YEAR, where I talk about my blogging mistakes, and which I do not recommend you read because that was hideous foetus Lu who posted that.

So let’s never mention that again…

have a balance.

Do not try and post every day.

That will just stress you out, A LOT. Nobody wants a stressed out blogger, a stressed out blogger is not necessary. R E L A X. Make sure that you do not focus 200% on blogging since as, Live Pulchritudinously said in her post, “blogging can wait, life can’t,” and I think that it’s really important to remember that. I think it’s too easy to get swept away with blogging and let moments in life pass you by.

Make sure that you take time for yourself and make sure that you rest and that you have breaks and do not overwork yourself because then you will just spiral spiral spiral and you’ll get dizzy, ok mate?

don’t feel that you need to read x amount of books to be a “proper book-blogger”.

I did a discussion post about this, not too long ago, about the pressure of reading in the book-blogging community, and how there’s pressure to read more books and how that sometimes I don’t feel like a “proper“* book blogger since I don’t read every. damn. release. (impossible!!) and how silly it is that we put pressure on ourselves.

I think that it’s super important to remember when you first start book blogging that you will not be able to read all the books out there, no matter how much you want to.

I think that the main thing that I mean about this section is to set yourself realistic goals, that you can achieve, and then stay motivated after you achieve them. I think that it’s really easy to start setting goals that you may not be able to achieve straight away since you’re really enthusiastic, but just don’t get TOO CARRIED AWAY with goals (there’s nothing wrong with enthusiasm though!!)

*there is no such thing as a “proper book-blogger”

don’t focus on other bloggers.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not compare yourself to other bloggers!! I think that this is valid for no matter how long you’ve been blogging.BLOGS GROW AT DIFFERENT RATES. You may look at your posts and think “aggg these bloggers are way more popular then meeee” “aggggg these people get way more comments” and start to think that your blog isn’t as good, and then get discouraged, and stop blogging.

As I said, blogs grow at different rates. It’s important to remember why you love blogging, and NOT COMPARE YOURSELF. There’s honestly no point. If we all ran around comparing ourselves to each other, we’d all go mad.

When you start blogging, it’s important to be patient.arc envy.Don’t stress that other bloggers are being sent arcs. Honestly, at first, I was stressing about why my blog wasn’t “good enough” to attract attention from authors and get arcs.

BUT.

After a few months of just blogging for me, guess what? I received an offer for an arc. And then another one. And another. This isn’t me trying to show off, I’m not. But this is just another aspect of blogging that takes patience and hard work. And, tbh, I find that ARCs are actually quite a lot of stress?? Especially when you’re in a slump, or have lots of school work.

Where you can get arcs:

From the author (they ask you)

From the publishing house (they ask you)

You ask the publisher.

You reach out to the author.

You request on Netgallery.

(TBH I don’t know many for this since I’m pretty new to ARCs at not a blogging expert)

find a schedule that suits you.

I don’t mean that you have to have specific days where you post, maybe just set a weekly target? Such as posting twice in a week. You don’t need to be regimented and scheduled to the second.

I think that it’s also important to note here that there’s no need to push yourself. Sure, aspire to do well, but there are other things that you may need to be focussing on.

That leads me to my next point:

sort your priorities.

This one sounds really dumb, but trust me, you’ll thank me later. Guys this is almost embarrassing to admit, but I literally spent too much time blogging last year when I really should NOT have been. And it’s kind of embarrassing to say because it sounds a bit silly??? I love blogging, a lot, and I have to physically stop myself from blogging instead of doing school work, which is important!!

What I’m saying is,DO NOT FEEL BAD FOR NOT BLOGGING. It is OKAY!! There is no specific amount that you “need” to blog!! There is no EXPECTATION. There is no designated amount that you “need” to blog.BLOG FOR YOU, WHEN IT SUITS YOU.

don’t over-do the gifs(?)

My friend, I’ve been there!! And when I look back at those posts, WHICH I SO NOT RECOMMENd BTW, I want to cringe. I DO CRINGE.

Personally, I like having the graphics/images, but I think that it’s really easy to over-do it sometimes? Sometimes, my eyes can’t take all the gifs??? And sometimes, I mean no offence if you do this, I feel a little lazy when I use a lot of gifs?

I don’t know!! It’s difficult to explain!! DOES ANYONE GET WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT???? PLEASE SAY YOU DO.

reviews/ content.

I think that this is important to note because let’s face it, reviews don’t get many views and that’s sad, but it’s true!! If you’re blogging, and want to get views (but don’t blog just for views!!), don’t do just reviews. Make sure your content is varied, and keep it interesting*.

I actually love reading reviews, but I understand why people won’t read them as much as other posts, and why there may not be as much interaction on those posts. BUT!! So much effort goes into reviews, and if you like writing reviews, then keep on doing it!!

With reviews, I think that it’s also important to mix up your review style. And, I actually did a post on loads of different review methods, which you can see here.

While it’s important to mix up the posts you do,make sure that you blog for you!

*says the blogger who just rants all the time

just keep going.

no matter how discouraged you get, if your stats are going down a bit, don’t worry about them,just keep going.Maybe change things up, maybe take a step back, see how you can improve, reach out to new bloggers, interact a bit more. There are plenty of ways that you can try and boost traffic to your blog!! BUT, as much as it may hurt to not get much back from things that you’re putting loads of energy and time into, just keep going.

what advice do you have for new bloggers? What haven’t I mentioned here? Did you make any “mistakes” when starting to blog that made you learn/change something? What do you think is important to remember while starting to blog? Let me know!! Luuuuuuuu

god this is such a good post!!! I definitely think that the “blog for you” tip is so so important — I’ve been having to remind myself that for the past week as my mental health kinda just went down and I didn’t feel like doing anything blog-related. I think it’s super important to blog when you feel like you want to — it should never feel like a chore, and if it does, it’s time to take a tiny step back.

and YES to priorities! last year (and a little this year too) I put blogging over homework and it honestly made me so stressed out and I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND. it’s not healthy at all!

Agreeing with everything you say in this post!
Comparing is pretty much the downfall of every new blogger, doesn’t matter if it’s books or something else. It’s simply human nature to compare and it’s something we should stop doing on all accounts, asap. But it’s hard, haha. Even I catch myself comparing my blog to someone else’s sometimes. Not in a negative way though, so there’s that.

Anyway! Definitely agree with the “don’t try to post every day!” and this is coming from someone who’s been posting nearly every day for almost three months now.. But it simply JUST HAPPENS. I don’t try to, I don’t fight to get a post up every day. I feel relaxed about blogging, I do it when I feel like it and.. well, neglect it when I don’t feel like it. I feel perfectly fine doing that and admitting it, to be honest. It’s the way it is.

Not comparing, being yourself and not stressing out are pretty much the main things people should keep in mind!

YESSS IT’S SO HARD TO STOP COMPARING!!
I think that sometimes, it can be okay to compare, as in you can maybe improve by getting inspo from them, but MOST of the time, comparing ourselves to each other just causes so much negativity on ourself!

SOMETIMES IT DOES JUST HAPPEN!! Just blog how you feel comfortable blogging. If you have the time, great!! If you’re a little busy, you know you can miss a day and that’s what’s important!

It iiis! My latest struggle is the “We have pretty much the same amount of followers; but why can’t I get equally as much likes as that person?!” and it’s kiiiiilling me. Already felt like smashing my head against my desk to just get the thought out of it, haha. It’s something that jumped on me just once and now it’s stuck there and it SUCKS.

Exactly! It’s not like people will start harassing you because you suddenly don’t post on a day you normally do. We all have lives!

I don’t ever use GIFs because I find them cringy. I only ever small photographs sometimes – such as a still from an adaptation or a book cover – because I actually find it really distracting to read blog posts littered with GIFs, Word Art, cartoons and photos. I want to be able to read what someone has written without needing to search for it between GIFs, so I like to emulate that style in my own writing. Well done on getting so many followers in just 2 years though!https://readandreview2016.wordpress.com/

This is all SO 100% true and I wish I could take this advice to heart but this helped a lot. I’ve been feeling so HORRIBLE about blogging like I want to quit because everyone gets the ARCs I want and have begged for and everyone has better stats than me and more comments and I JUST AM SO FRUSTRATED FOR MYSELF BECAUSE WHAT A DUMB MINDSET TO HAVE. I hate my stats so much and I have/had a schedule but haven’t posted in over a week and JUST WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?! and ahahah I think i UNDERDO the GIFS and I literally have no inspiration for original content or I do BUT IDK HOW to PUT theSE IDEAS INTO A POST!?!

These are such good tips! My attitude to reading has definitely changed since I started blogging and using goodreads more, and I often have to tell myself to chill because I do it for fun and I’m making myself unnecessarily stressed!

Great advice! All of these are so spot on. I especially recommend that one about not looking back on old posts, since you’ll get a sudden urge to delete all of those posts! I love using gifs on Twitter, but it never even occurred to me to use them on the blog – even though I enjoy seeing them in other people’s posts.

BUT GIFS ARE SO FUN!!!!! No but really, I overdo gifs sometimes because they make me laugh. They probably don’t make everyone else laugh though hahaha. This is an awesome post with great tips. I go at my own pace, never look at my stats and read what I wanna read. I try not to stress myself out with my blog because it’s supposed to be fun 🙂 I used to do the complete opposite and used to stress and be sad when people didn’t read my stuff, and it really discouraged me. Now I’m like….super breezy (maybe…kinda). Great post!!!!

Aww what a great list!! I’m still pretty new, so I don’t know how much wisdom I can impart, but it’s so nice to read something so motivational!! Totally guilty of the gif thing, and I actually just did that on my last post 😂 But I just get so excited!!! haha Really need to reign it in a little. For me, blogging has been a very slow climb. Gradually I’m getting more and more views and followers, but it’s been a sluggish process so I think your last point is important! Just keep going and don’t lose focus of why you started blogging in the first place 😃 Awesome post!

I also find ARCs mildly stressful. I’d love to get some of the bigger ARCs (though I never actually request them….) because I’d be reading the books anyway, but mostly I don’t like having to read on a schedule.

yes me neither!! That’s why I think they’re so stressful and personally not really for me?? The whole “having to review by this date” just freaks me out, even if I have plenty of time to do so! (I don’t request more known arcs either aha)

i understand exactly what you mean with gifs!!! i’m guilty of overdoing it because they are so much fun, and i have to take a step back and say, malanie, this is an intervention, do not download the gif. they can get overwhelming for everyone involved

Ahh thank you!! Another blogger actually made them for me! But I know how so basically all you want to do is find some free graphics on the internet that you can then arrange in whatever format you’d like! Or you can find banners etc on Pinterest!